Take A Look
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, days 1165-1167: They were just three girls, but one was lost, and two remained, and it took time to rebuild and get back on their feet. - Trinity series
1. Look Back

_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 55th cycle. Now cycle 56!_

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**"Take A Look"  
(Older) Quinn, Brittany/Santana  
Trinity series  
_(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)_  
**

**1. Look Back**

_Some time before_

The job they had pulled at the McKinley reunion, if they could call it that, had not been their first official job. If it counted at all, they would call it job zero.

But now it was another matter. Quinn had agreed to take them on, going so far as to get an apartment for the three of them to share, making their partnership official. They had all moved in, and although it had all required some adjustment at first, they had found a rhythm of life, as a trio. And now she had a job for them, a real one, with actual stakes involved. When they had come home that night, she was waiting for them. They saw her sitting at the table, and the air felt different.

"Please, sit," she indicated. They had come and joined her, and then she'd slid an image toward them. "We're going to be retrieving this," she informed them, and their faces grew serious as well.

"Where is it?" Santana asked.

"In a museum vault," Quinn told her before showing them another image, a floor plan. "This is only partial, we're going to need to get some eyes around the place before we can move ahead."

"Right, we can do that," Santana nodded, looking to Brittany.

"We should have code names, shouldn't we?" was the first thing she spoke of, and the others stared at her. "Well, what if we talk, and they hear us, and we say each other's names, and they figure out who we are? If we use fake names, then they can't tell who we are."

"That's… actually a good point," Quinn told her, sitting back, and Brittany looked pleased.

"What kind of names? Like actual names, or just words…" Santana asked.

"We can figure it out as we go along," Quinn suggested, and they understood: they had more important matters to discuss.

They were nervous, all of them, at the prospect of doing this for the first time, really doing it. As much as they could pretend otherwise, they knew it wasn't true, and they did have concerns. But then how could they not? Quinn, as much as she was happy not to be going it alone anymore, had not completely gotten over the fact that her best friends of way back when were now ready to put everything on the line to help her. She still felt like she was not helping them at all, and if she wasn't so selfish, she would have said no. For their part, Brittany and Santana were very aware of the fact that once they did this with her, this first job, then there would be no going back. It would be a fact, a fixed reality, that they were thieves, and had broken the law. They knew it was to do good in the end, but it wouldn't be seen that way if they were ever caught; they knew that as well.

The job in itself had been a mess.

They were all still trying to get their signals in order, and they were trying to decide on these code names, which led to confusion when they would try to contact each other. They had done their prep work, they'd run through the steps, but this was the first time they were actually trying to pull it off for real, and nerves got in the way. How they had managed to get what they'd come for and make a clean exit, they had no clue, but they did.

They hadn't spoken a word of it until they were back in New York, back in their apartment. They had filed in through the door, all of them exhausted, all of them with too many thoughts coursing through their minds, and part of them would have been plenty happy calling it a night and picking up in the morning, but then…

"You should be called Breaker," Brittany had spoken up, and the other two had turned around.

"Who, me?" Santana asked, but Brittany shook her head and pointed to Quinn.

"Because you break the codes… and the safes," she explained.

"Yeah… sounds good," Quinn had agreed slowly, as they all stood where they were, one at the door, one near the kitchen, the other heading toward the bedrooms… They had started moving closer after a beat. "You should be Optic, since you've got your eye on everything," she stared to Santana, who had to smile.

"What about me?" Brittany had asked. Santana came up to her.

"I'm thinking… Sneak… I think you can figure out why."

"Yeah," she smiled. They looked to Quinn, and they knew they had to talk about this job they had returned from.

"Maybe I should have started you guys smaller. I took you from an easy grab to… that. I mean when I started, it was really small, so it was easier to get acclimated, to go deeper each time… We just weren't ready for something like this, as the three of us."

"But we will be, right?" Brittany asked.

"Of course we will," Santana nodded.

"I never said I'd give up on you two," Quinn assured Brittany, and Santana as well.

"Good," Brittany smiled. "We'll do better next time."

Their second job, while still in need of polishing, had been a vast improvement compared to the first one, and it had helped to convince not just Quinn, or Brittany, or Santana, that this unit of theirs could actually work. And by the third job, they could honestly say that everything had gone as they would have liked.

"Figures it would be the third job where we'd find our footing," Santana had commented. "Once a trinity, always a trinity."

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)


	2. Look Around

___**This is a double shift day.** There will be one more upload today: Padra's Run, chapter 8__._

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**"Take A Look"**

**2. Look Around**

_In their present time_

Weeks ago, Santana had gotten a call from the animal clinic where Brittany worked, telling her that her wife had not shown up to work for three days straight. This had been news to Santana, who had been concerned over being unable to locate her. But then she'd realized where she would be, and she'd found her sitting outside the closed door of their deceased friend and roommate, needing to mourn her, trying to get past this twisted little fear of entering her room. She had told her how concerned she'd made her, and Brittany had apologized. In the end they had managed to enter the room, both of them together. Things had carried on as they should after that.

But then came another morning, and another call. It hadn't been three days, or even two, but still Brittany had not shown up for work, and they'd needed her, so the secretary was now trying to track her down. The way she'd told Santana, she had called their home and Brittany's cell phone before she'd called her, and no answer had come except Santana's. So she had tried herself, but like the secretary all she got were voicemails. She was already in her lunch break, so she had headed home to go see her.

Only when she had made it to their apartment, Brittany wasn't there. She didn't want to go off on a panic for no reason, but after one more round of calls had gotten her nothing, now there was nothing to stop her heart from going into overdrive. Brittany had said nothing that morning to indicate that she wouldn't be going to work, and after checking in with their friends, she still had nothing. As a last ditch effort, she had called Winger.

"You don't think someone took her again, do you?" he'd sounded slightly afraid that this might have been the case."

"I don't know, I'm just getting worried…" she could feel her breath harder to achieve.

"Hold on, I'm going to locate her phone," he had gone on.

"No, you don't need to…"

"Got it," he answered before she could tell him otherwise. "Uh…"

"What?" Santana asked, this close to chewing him out if he didn't tell her what he'd found.

"Well, according to this, she is at your building, she's just… Okay, she's on the roof."

"The roof?" Santana blinked. "I'll call you back."

There was no way it could be anything like… She went out of the apartment and took the stairs to the roof. When she had approached the door, she could see movement, but it wasn't until she'd pushed the door open that she saw what this movement was.

There was Brittany. And she was dancing.

After everything that had happened with the school in Boston, Brittany had just sort of stopped, like the experience had drained any sort of love she had for it. In the years that had passed, the only dancing Santana had seen her wife do was the kind that took place at parties and receptions, on the dance floor, the two of them along with everyone else. But this…

She'd almost forgotten how good she could be. She couldn't even hear the music, as Brittany was following a song with headphones on, but even then… She was a sight to behold. Maybe it was the relief to know she was alright, or the sight of her dancing, or the baby hormones, but she'd started to cry as she smiled… It was so much better than anything she could have expected to find.

Eventually Brittany had seen her there, and she'd stopped, pulling the headphones off her head. "What are you doing here?" she was surprised.

"The clinic was looking for you, they called me… again." Brittany went to get her phone, seeing all the missed calls and messages.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't…" she shook her head, but Santana only came up to her and kissed her, held her.

"When did you start doing this?" she asked, and at Brittany's confusion. "The dancing."

"This morning," the blonde admitted, bowing her head. "I woke up and it was all I could think about, I... I think I'm ready to start again," she revealed.

"Professionally?" Santana asked, and she got a nod.

"I thought about what happened to Quinn, how she had her whole life ahead of her, but she lost it in a second. And I thought about the baby, and what I'd want for him or her… I'd lost it, everything I loved about dance, after Boston and… I thought about that new little life we created, and the one Quinn could have had… I want to be able to tell our child that I did everything I was meant to do. And then I felt it. I hadn't felt it in years, but I did, and when I did… That's when I came up here," she smiled. "And now I know that's what I want to do."

"I love you…" was all Santana could think to say, looking at her wife and seeing that girl she'd fallen in love with, all those years ago. Brittany had beamed, looked down between them. Santana was barely starting to show, but seeing the roundness in progress was everything to the two of them.

"I swear I'll let you know where I am from now on," Brittany had looked back up to her.

"Look, if you ever need to be alone, I get that. But not being able to find you or even reach you… I already went through that, and that time you really were in danger…" Santana shook her head, on the verge of tears, and Brittany looked like she was ashamed for how she'd made her worry. "So just send me a message, anything, so I know what the situation is."

"I swear," Brittany looked her in the eye.

"Now there's a call I think you need to make, if you're serious about getting back into dancing," Santana had spoken with her head held high, and Brittany had needed a moment, but then she'd smiled, knowing.

"Sherry…" All those years ago, Sherry Weston had made her a promise, when she'd had to take back her offer to have Brittany join her dance company, to be there for her with whatever she needed. It may have been years, but if she knew Sherry the way she did, she wouldn't have forgotten her, or her promise.

TO BE CONCLUDED (TOMORROW)


	3. Look Ahead

**"Take A Look"**

**3. Look Ahead**

_In their not so distant future_

They had waited on this day to come for weeks now, but even then when the morning had finally arrived, they were still so very nervous. Santana didn't know why she was nervous, she wasn't the one about to perform in her first show as lead dancer. But now here they were, and before the show could start, she had gone backstage, knocking at the door to the dressing room.

"There's someone here who wants to say good luck," she'd spoken through the door, and when Brittany opened the door she beamed, reaching to take their daughter in her arms. It seemed impossible for her to already be over a year old, when they had held her for the first time only a moment ago, or that was how it felt. Their growing girl was all smiles in her mama's arms, and Brittany gave her a face that cranked it up to a laugh.

"Look at how pretty you are…" Brittany had breathed, holding her daughter's hand, looking at her dress. After a moment, when she looked like she would start to cry, Santana had reached to take her back. "Probably a good idea, I'm going on soon," Brittany laughed, dabbing carefully at her eyes without ruining her makeup.

"You're gonna kill it," Santana promised her. "And you already know how proud we are, right, Flo?" she looked to their girl, who was still reaching out toward Brittany. "We'll see you after, alright?"

"Okay," Brittany sighed, grasping the girl's hand. "Bye bye, bunny," she told her, kissing her head, her hand, before turning to kiss her wife. "Go, go," she smiled.

"Going," Santana promised, and they had headed out to find their seat. She sat there, the one-year-old balanced in her lap. She wasn't sure how much she would understand of what she'd see on the stage, but as soon as her eyes would find her mother up there… she wouldn't let her go.

She'd feared the changes in lighting would scare her, but Santana had still decided to bring her. In the end she had done remarkably well, and she'd been in completely adoration for her mother on stage… before finally having had her fill and falling asleep in Santana's arms. She had been awakened again when the show had ended and the applause had erupted. Santana had done her best to applaud along, made slightly more difficult by the child in her arms. Already she was in tears because, without a doubt, Brittany had been the star up there that night, and everyone could see it.

But then something had happened as Brittany was standing up there with all the dancers at the very end, under all the applause. Santana had seen something change in her eyes, and all of a sudden she looked stunned, frozen. She had caught herself and tried to hide it, but Santana could still see it.

She had gone to find her, and where she did find her was off the stage, staring out into the audience which was slowly exiting the hall. "Britt, what's the matter?" Santana had approached, but Brittany was still scanning the crowd.

"I-I saw her…" she breathed.

"Saw who?"

"Quinn… I know it sounds crazy, but I swear it was her," she cried, looking… Santana had been surprised by the claim, but then at the same time…

"Brittany, she's been gone for almost two years, you know…"

"No, I know what I saw," she insisted. "It was her… it was…" her voice was dying down. No matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find her again. She'd crouched down into a ball, trying to calm down. "Maybe I did make it up..."

"You wanted her to see you back on a stage, it's okay," Santana shook her head, and Brittany looked to her; she was right. "You were just beautiful up there," she had to tell her, and it got a tentative smile out of her. "We both thought so," she looked to their daughter, who had once again found sleep. "Let's just go, alright?"

"I'll get changed," Brittany agreed. It still confused her though, what she'd seen… If she had to imagine Quinn there, why did she have to imagine her as a redhead?

X

She had wanted to stay as long as possible, but already being there at all was going beyond her reach. So after everyone had gotten up and started applauding, she had made her way out into the theater lobby. When she got there, someone was waiting for her. She paused.

"How'd you know I'd be here?" Quinn asked. Spencer stood and came to embrace her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just knew you'd say it was too big of a risk…"

"I knew you were going out of town before you even left, I could see it… And then I didn't even have to figure out where." They had left the theater, already knowing they would be on their way back out of New York. "Why'd you do it though?" he had to ask. She shook her head, searching.

"You know I'd be ready to blame it all on hormones and never ask you again, if that helped," he told her, and as much as it was meant as a joke, she could read the true concern underneath. Coming here, her jacket could hide it well enough, but underneath her belly said another story, grown with five months done. Her hand had gone to it with instinct.

"I thought about how they won't be there… for everything, for the wedding, and for…" She paused, sighed. "I won't do it again, I swear."

"You don't need to say it, I trust you, like always," he told her.

"But we do need to go… The longer we stay, the more the city is going to start feeling real again, and I can't let it…" she spoke what she knew. "Let's just go home, okay?"

"Okay," he held his arm around her shoulders, and they continued on, never looking back. It was one slip up, but he knew as well as she did that it shouldn't become a habit. If there was a time where it was safe for them again in the city they'd once called home, today was not it. But maybe someday…

THE END


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